A Homoeopathic Drug Proving of Trachyspermum Ammi Dr Ajith Kumar D S
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A Homoeopathic Drug Proving of Trachyspermum Ammi Dr Ajith Kumar D S Introduction Homoeopathy is a specialised system of therapeutics based on the law of healing - Similia Similibus Curentur which means ‘let likes be treated by likes’. Homoeopathy offers a life of service to humanity and it is the only method of healing that surely sets the sick person on the permanent road to recovery. Experimentation of a drug on healthy human beings to ascertain its pathogenetic properties is peculiar to the art & science of homoeopathy. These pathogenetic recordings form the foundation and basis of Homoeopathic Materia Medica and selection of Homoeopathic similimum. Every Homoeopathic prescription is based on a comparison between the portrait of the disease and the drug picture obtained through drug proving. The law of Similars states that any substance which can produce a totality of symptoms in a healthy human being can cure that totality of symptoms in a sick human being. Ever since the first drug proving of CINCHONA by Dr. Hahnemann the methodology of drug proving have been improved & undergone many modifications. Hahnemann’s discovery of dynamisation of medicines is of the greatest importance to the development of the methodology of drug proving. By drug dynamisation the therapeutic virtue of crude drugs are activated, the toxicity of poisonous substances are annulled and the inert substances are aroused to activity so that the proving becomes more effective. Proving of drugs on healthy human beings is a superior method when compared to proving on animals or sick persons. The effects of drugs on animals & human beings are different. Subjective symptoms cannot be studied in animals. An attempt to study the action of drugs on sick persons defeats its own purpose because the positive action of a drug is liable to be vitiated by the already existing disease in the organism. Now the Homoeopathic Materia Medica is enriched with the provings of a vast number of drugs from all sources i.e. from vegetable kingdom, animal kingdom, minerals, nosodes, sarcodes, imporadablia & synthetic sources. The plant kingdom is the largest source of Homoeopathic medicines. A continuing supply of high quality provings is essential for the progress of Homoeopathy. A good many Homoeopathic remedies are now being prepared from indigenous plants & herbs of India. The medicinal use of herbs & plants are mentioned in the Rig-Veda & widely used in Ayurvedic system of Medicine. Many of these drugs after proving on healthy human beings & used homoeopathically have found to effect magnificent cures. It is the duty of homoeopathic physician of India to make homoeopathic provings of these indigenous drugs & their by enrich our Materia Medica. This is a humble effort made by me to homoeopathically prove Trachyspermum ammi, a well known Ayurvedic medicine which is commonly known as ‘Ayamodakam’. It is an aphrodisiac, anthelmintic, carminative & laxative. It is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine in the treatment for ascites, abdominal tumours, and enlargement of the spleen, piles, vomiting, abdominal pains, biliousness, toothache & good for the heart. The Homoeopathic drug proving of Trachyspermum ammi helps to unfold the therapeutic virtues of the drug, so that after repeated provings & clinical verifications, it can be added to our homoeopathic Materia Medica and can be prescribed to the sick according to homoeopathic principles. “We are here to add what we can to, Not to get what we can from, LIFE” - William Osler AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To introduce a new drug (Trachyspermum ammi) into Homoeopathic Materia Medica. To elicit the symptomatology of the same through Homoeopathic drug proving. To substantiate the symptomatology of Trachyspermum ammi with synthesis Repertory. www.similima.com Page 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE THE CONCEPT OF DRUG PROVING Drug proving is the method for ascertaining the pathogenetic power (disease producing) of drugs and hence the method for ascertaining the curative power of drugs. Drugs are substances which possess the power of altering when used on human system (body, mind and vital force). In health they can produce illness and when used correctly in illness can restore us to health. Proving (5, 9, 10, 25, 48, 50 & 85) is a commonly used word in Homoeopathy. It is derived from the German word ‘Prufung’, which Hahnemann used for referring to Homoeopathic drug experiments (Trials) on healthy human volunteers. This word when translated into English means Trial. Hahnemann states in the aphorism 105 0f the Organon of Medicine, 6th edition as - "The second point of the business of a true physician relates to acquiring a knowledge of the instruments intended for the cure of the natural diseases, investigating the pathogenetic power of the medicines, in order, when called on to cure, to be able to select from among them, one, from the list of whose symptoms an artificial disease may be constructed, as similar as possible to the totality of the principle symptoms of the natural disease sought to be cured." Homoeopathic drug proving is a process in which the medicinal substance is administered in a systematic way to the healthy human beings over a period of days, just sufficient to initiate a reaction in the vital principle of the human economy and to record the pathogenesis produced by them on the provers. Carefully conducted Homoeopathic Drug proving on a healthy human being furnishes the true picture & knowledge of a drug that forms the base for the selection of the similimum. EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF DRUG PROVING (14, 15, 17, 18, 20) It was Albrecht von Haller, who besides Hahnemann saw the necessity of this genuine mode of testing medicines for their pure and peculiar effects in deranging the health of man, in order to learn what morbid state each medicine is capable of curing (footnote to aphorism 108). Haller said - "Indeed, a medicine must first of all be assayed in a healthy body, without any foreign admixture. When the odour and taste have been examined, a small dose must be taken and attention must be paid to every change that occurs, to the pulse, the temperature, respiration and excretions. Then having examined the symptoms encountered in the healthy person, one may proceed to trials in the body of a sick person." Hahnemann was competent in different languages (he knew 14 languages) and used to translate many works of considerable significance. In 1790 while translating “A treatise on Materia Medica” (second volume) by Dr. William Cullen who was a leading teacher, chemist & Physician in Edinburgh, from English to German language, Hahnemann came across the statement made by Dr Cullen in the book regarding the action of Cinchona bark in the cure of ague. i.e., by virtue of bitterness and the tonic effect on the stomach, the drug cured ague. Dr. Cullen was the authority of Materia Medica on that time. But this explanation did not satisfy Hahnemann as there were plenty of bitter drugs but not possessing the ague curative power. He thought of testing the positive action of cinchona bark on his own body. Hahnemann therefore resolved to ascertain, by the natural method of experience, wherein lay the power of cinchona bark to allay intermittent fever. He says - "I took for several days, as an experiment, four drachms of good Cinchona twice daily. 'My feet and finger tips, etc at first became cold; I became languid and drowsy; then my heart began to palpate, my pulse became hard and quick; an intolerable anxiety and trembling (but without a rigor), prostration in all the limbs, then pulsation in the head, redness of the cheeks, thirst; briefly, all the symptoms usually associated with intermittent fever appeared in succession, yet without the actual rigour. To sum up: all those symptoms which to me are typical of intermittent fever, as the stupefaction of the senses, a kind of rigidity of all joints, but above all the numb, disagreeable sensation which seems to have its seat in the periosteum over all the bones of the body - all made their appearance. This paroxysm lasted from two to three hours every time, and recurred when I repeated the dose, not otherwise. I discontinued the medicine and I was once more in good health'." i.e., Hahnemann experienced symptoms similar to ague after taking this drug. He had discovered a great principle – The drugs cure diseases that it can produce on a healthy person. This event led to the development of a new therapeutic system – Homoeopathy. Drug after drug, specific after specific was tested by Hahnemann on himself and on his family and friends, all with one result - each remedy of recognized specific power excited a spurious disease resembling that for which it was considered specific. He verified www.similima.com Page 2 his discoveries and observations by exploring volumes of recorded experiments on Materia Medica and history of poisonings. Hahnemann made the induction that diseases which were cured by medicines are by the virtue of the power of the medicines to produce symptoms similar to those of diseases which it cured. After six years of careful study & observations he formulated the principle “Similia similibus curentur” (16 & 17) – Let likes be treated by likes. He published an article in 1796 in Hufeland’s journal under the title “An essay on a new principle for ascertaining the curative power of drugs” in which he propounded the Homoeopathic therapeutic rule. In a few years more he was able to give an array of medicinal substances whose pure pathogenetic action he had ascertained by experiments on himself, his family & few friends. The results of the laborious & pains taking experiments were published in 1805 in “Fragmenta De Viribus Medica mentorum positivis sive Insano Corporo Humano observatis”. It is the first published Materia Medica by Dr.